


A New Perspective

by just_another_outcast



Series: the scenes we deserve (episode tags) [3]
Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: AU Episode Tag, Angst, Coda to 1x03, Episode Tag, Episode: s01e03 Fear Response, Gen, Hopeful Ending, Hurt/Comfort, LSD, Malcolm Bright Whump, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Papa Gil, Protective JT Tarmel, bad trip, tag to 1x03
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:34:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24706900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/just_another_outcast/pseuds/just_another_outcast
Summary: Dr. Brown isn't the only one who gets dosed that night.  Malcolm gets dosed too, and the rest of the night is pure terror and agony.(tag to 1x03, Fear Response)
Relationships: Gil Arroyo & Malcolm Bright, Malcolm Bright & JT Tarmel
Series: the scenes we deserve (episode tags) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1782832
Comments: 10
Kudos: 136





	A New Perspective

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Adrenalineshots](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adrenalineshots/gifts).



> This is dedicated to Natty, because she's the one who gave me this fantastic idea :) I hope you enjoy, and please leave review!!!
> 
> Also, to those unfamiliar with police jargon, EDP stands for Emotionally Disturbed Person.

Malcolm really should've taken it on prior experience that accepting tea from people you don't know is never a good idea. As he was connecting the dots between the satanic masks and the letters from their killer, Malcolm noticed that the words on the page seem to stretch and shrink, and not as a result from their killer's worsening mental state, but from his own. Dr. Brown started slurring her words, and Malcolm knew it was too late for both of them. The tea had been laced with LSD, and now he was in just as much danger as the doctor.

The face that the letters created when arranged correctly suddenly jumped out at him. He gasped and took a few stumbling steps back. Malcolm closed his eyes tightly and looked away. It wasn't real. It was just the LSD. It wasn't real. He needed to call JT, to let him know what was going on, but as he patted his pockets, Malcolm realized he left the phone in the car.

The lights all went off, and Dr. Brown started moaning. Her words flew in one ear and out the other. They were unintelligible, serving only to heighten Malcolm's fear. Their killer was somewhere, waiting to strike, and Malcolm needed to do something to stop him, but how could he do that when the walls were pulsing, every painting and piece of furniture warping and moving?

"This is your fault."

Malcolm turned towards the voice, but no one was there. It wasn't Dr. Brown. His breathing getting faster by the second, Malcolm backed himself up into a corner and slid down the wall. Then at least he was covered on two sides, making it harder for something to sneak up on him.

"All those people are dead because of you."

The voice became clearer. It was his father. Malcolm groaned and hugged his knees up to his chest, eyes still tightly closed, but even the darkness seemed to pulse, neon colors filtering through like static on a TV. But it wasn't real. His father was in Claremont, he wasn't there with him.

"Look at me, boy!"

On instinct, Malcolm's head shot up, eyes quickly opening to see his father standing over him, right there over him, a crazed grin on his face, his normally white scrubs from Claremont covered in blood, brandishing a blood soaked knife.

It took Malcolm a moment to realize that the screaming he heard was coming from himself.

...

JT noticed out of the corner of his eye the moment the lights in the house went out. He got over to the house as quickly as he could, debating calling for backup. The moment he found that he couldn't get inside the house, the debate was over.

"Bright!" he called out as he tried to muscle his way through the door. Something was blocking it from the inside. JT dialed Gil, thankful that the man always picked up quickly.

"Any sign of the killer?" Gil asked in lieu of a regular greeting.

"Something's wrong, all the lights are out, I can't get inside, and Bright's in there," JT rushed out. A chilling scream split the night, JT's stomach dropping all the way to the ground. It was Bright. Shouting followed, but JT couldn't make out it out. "Get here fast," he said, then hung up. He needed to get into that house. "Bright!" he shouted again, still receiving no reply.

Whatever was in front of the door, a fridge most likely, would not budge. JT tried not to panic. The killer was probably in there, and JT could only hope that the man would kill the psychologist before the profiler. As morbid as it was, JT would rather deal with failing to protect Dr. Brown than Bright. If something happened to Dr. Brown, JT wouldn't have to deal with Gil hating him for the rest of his life, but if something happened to Bright, then there was a good chance he would. Hopefully, it wouldn't come to either one of those scenarios.

JT continued to push against the door, fighting with all of his strength to break through, to be able to do his job and save the day without losing anyone, and finally, he was able to move the hulking mass from its position just enough to be able to force his way through the doorway and into the house.

The dark made it a bit more difficult, but JT cleared each room as he made his way towards the terrified shouts he heard coming from the study. There was no sign of the killer, but he had to be there. JT saw a bag of tools that looked very out of place as he cleared the next room. It had to belong to the killer.

Based on the sounds he heard coming from the study, both the doctor and Bright had been dosed. JT had never done drugs himself, but based on the doctor's crazed ramblings and Bright's terrified groans, it didn't sound like he was missing out on much. He could hear Bright muttering something about "not real, not here", but he tried to put it out of his mind until the killer was contained.

JT crept closer to the door of the study. He could hear someone moving around in there, but the voices weren't moving positions. That had to be the killer. Just in case that closed door was locked too, JT geared up to kick the door in. His foot slammed into it with a bang, knocking it wide open.

"NYPD!" he shouted, his weapon drawn and ready to be fired. The killer was standing over a rambling Dr. Brown, a knife in his hand. "Drop the knife!" JT shouted. The man's head shot towards JT.

"No, I'm not afraid of you!" he screamed. He was truly unhinged.

"Don't make me shoot you, man," JT pleaded with him. "Now put it down." In the dark, he couldn't see what she was doing, but Dr. Brown was moving, hopefully just getting out of the way. "You need to put the knife down," he repeated.

The killer did the opposite. He brandished the knife even higher, and with a deranged scream, he took a step towards JT. The gunshot was immediate, dropping the man to the ground instantaneously. But the shot hadn't come from JT. Slowly, he turned to face Dr. Brown, who was holding a rifle close and muttering incoherently about killing the man.

"Dr. Brown, it's okay, you did it, you saved us," JT said. He was still ready with his weapon, but he held it slightly lower, not wanting to spook the woman into firing again.

"I did it, I did it," the woman said, her words slurring together a little bit.

"Yes, you did, and it's okay, it's all okay now," JT insisted. He could still hear Bright in the corner, and it sounded like he was close to hyperventilating. He needed to get the doctor to put the gun down so he could get over to the kid. Hopefully backup would be there soon. "You need to put down the gun, it's okay," he repeated. "It's okay."

With a wail, Dr. Brown dropped the rifle onto the desk and collapsed into the chair, continuing to ramble on about nonsense. JT quickly holstered his gun and turned towards Bright. The kid was in the corner, knees pulled up to his chest, one arm held protectively close. As much as JT wanted to immediately rush over and check on him - because JT wouldn't live to see the sunrise if he let anything happen to Gil's kid - he needed to call for more assistance first. Even though Gil should be there soon, the man likely wouldn't be bringing medical assistance with him. He needed to make sure the killer was dead too.

JT crouched down and checked for a pulse, getting nothing. He checked for breathing, and got nothing there too. He wouldn't lose any sleep over that. That taken care of, JT pulled out his phone and called dispatch.

"This is Detective Tarmel out of the 1-6. I got a 10-13, I need a bus at my location." JT rattled off the address. "I got two vics, likely both dosed with a lethal amount of LSD." He hung and turned his attention back to Bright, who was in the same position.

"It's not real, it's not real, it's not real," he muttered over and over again. JT slowly approached him, instinctively holding his hands outward to show he wasn't a threat.

"Bright," he gently called out. The kid's eyes shot towards him, big and terrified, but he was still breathing much too quickly. "It's okay, you're safe. Gil is on his way. You're gonna be just fine."

"No, no one's safe," Bright replied, vehemently shaking his head. "You have to kill him, before he kills me, before he kills everyone. He's going to kill us all."

JT knelt down next to Bright, unsure of what to do or say. He usually had backup when dealing with an EDP, and the EDP had never been someone he personally knew. Gil needed to get there fast.

"No one is gonna hurt you," JT insisted, although he wasn't even sure that Bright fully recognized that he was there. "We got Render. You and Dr. Brown are both gonna be fine. Gil is on the way, and so is an ambulance." But Bright didn't seem to be paying any attention to him. His eyes kept darting all around the room and his breathing picked up even more as he stared at things that weren't actually there. Bright screamed and threw himself into JT's arms.

"He's gonna kill you too, I'm sorry," he sobbed into his arms. Hesitantly, JT wrapped his arms around the kid, holding him close. Gil needed to hurry up and get there already, this was not JT's thing. He could still hear Dr. Brown rambling on behind him, but he didn't pay her much attention. She didn't seem to be as bad off as Bright.

"It's okay, bro," JT said. What else was he supposed to say? The kid was on a seriously bad trip and there wasn't anything that JT could say to make him feel safe. From what JT knew, the kid could be tripping for the next six to fifteen hours. If it continued as it currently was, it would be six to fifteen hours of agony. The LSD had to be different than what was considered normal for the drug. Every vic had been terrified all the way to their demise, whereas many people took acid and didn't have those bad trips. JT squeezed the kid's shoulder, just trying to do something to make him feel more safe, but it had the opposite effect. The kid moaned in what was clearly pain, pulling his shoulder away from JT's grip but remaining in the man's arms. That was when JT noticed how the kid was holding his wrist. He couldn't tell for sure in the low light, but it looked like his wrist was a little swollen. Something had happened to the kid's arm, and JT had no idea what.

"NYPD!"

JT jerked his head up at the sound. Gil was finally there.

"In here!" he shouted back, but he made no move to get up. Bright was latched onto him like a lifeline, so moving probably wasn't the best move. The poor kid was trembling in his arms, and it sounded like he was softly crying. JT may not have particularly liked the kid - at least, not as much as everyone else was growing to - but no one deserved this. "Bus should be here in less than five," JT added the moment he saw Gil and Dani in the doorway. The two rushed in, holstering their weapons.

"What happened?" Gil immediately asked, quickly checking their suspect once again, and, after also getting no pulse or respiratory activity, came to kneel right by JT and Bright, while Dani went to Dr. Brown.

"Bright and Brown are both dosed, Brown killed Render," JT replied, going for just the most important facts.

"Bright," Gil gently called out, but the kid didn't respond to him. He just kept muttering under his breath, "please don't."

"The kid thinks someone is going to kill him and me and everyone else," JT said. "He's not makin' much sense, but I guess that's to be expected. And I think something's wrong with his arm. He's holdin' it close and he's not hidin' that it hurts."

"He's probably seeing his father. I don't know about his arm. He never mentioned it all day," Gil replied, moving to be right in front of JT, right behind Bright. He gently put a hand on the kid's uninjured shoulder. With how heavy the kid was trembling, JT couldn't tell if he flinched at the contact or not. "Kid, it's okay, I'm right here," Gil said. He moved to the side a bit, so he would be in the kid's sightline if he opened his eyes. "Malcolm, you're gonna be okay, I promise. Can you open your eyes for me?" Slowly, he did. "Good, kid, you're doin' great. You're gonna be okay. I'm right here, I'm real. Me and JT, we're both real, and we're gonna stay with you." JT could hear the sirens pulling up outside. "You're safe."

"Gil," the kid muttered, almost as a question.

"Yeah, I'm right here," he replied. Maybe JT was seeing things too, but it looked like Gil had tears in his eyes as well. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm gonna protect you, I'm gonna keep you safe, okay?"

"You won't let him kill anyone else?" Bright asked, and suddenly JT was fighting off a wave of emotion too. The kid sounded so damn young. He couldn't help but wonder if that's what he had sounded like the night that Gil arrested his father.

"I won't let him kill anyone else, especially not you," Gil responded. He moved a hand up to run his fingers through the kid's hair. The gesture seemed to calm them both. Bright relaxed a little more into JT, leaning towards Gil a bit as well. "You're gonna be okay."

The trip ended up lasting a grand total of thirteen hours, an hour higher than what the internet told JT was average. It was hell. Extricating Bright from JT's arms in order to get him to the ambulance had been heartwrenching for all of them, hearing Bright scream to please not leave him, that there was safety in numbers, they wouldn't be killed if they stayed together. Only Gil was allowed in the ambulance with him, and as selfish as it was, JT was thankful for that. It gave him a minute to fall apart at the emotional toll the night was taking. Gil wouldn't have that time, because there was no way that Gil was going to leave his kid's side for a single moment, not even at the hospital.

Dr. Brown was brought to the hospital as well, and her life was saved too. Her trip lasted only nine hours. Lucky her. Both JT and Dani spent as much time as they could at the hospital with Bright, but they did have to cover for Gil at the precinct, giving the two of them more breaks that Gil would not be taking.

As it turned out, Bright had thrown himself out of his window that morning in the throes of a night terror, and had succeeded in spraining his shoulder and wrist, barely sparing his elbow from the same thing. JT was glad to let Gil do the scolding on that note. Apparently it had to be spelled out for the kid that hiding injuries and pretending all day like he wasn't in pain was not a good idea, much less how a team operates. It should not have taken a heavy dose of LSD to make him stop hiding that he was in pain.

If nothing else, that horrific night had been educational. JT had never seen in person just how much Bright meant to Gil until then. Of course, looking back, JT put two and two together that whenever Gil had mentioned "this kid I know" over the years, he'd been talking about Bright. All those stories about a kid whose life wasn't fair, whose smile could light up the city, whose heart was too big for his own good, who Gil was more proud of than anything, were about Bright. Seeing Gil that night, desperately trying to console the kid who JT was realizing more and more every day was really a son to the man, brought a whole different aspect to how JT saw Bright as well. True, JT still thought he was annoying and a chatterbox and weird and overall bizarre, but Gil loved him so much, so, maybe, JT would give him a chance.


End file.
